The first half of trailer consists of a familiar voice over with Alec Guinness. Fans will love to hear him speak his monologue to Luke from A New Hope about "Jedi Knights always being the guardians of peace." As we hear these familiar phrases, they've intercut shots from various Star Wars episodes, excluding Episode 3. Only when the monologue ends with "Vader was seduced by the dark side of the Force" about 40 seconds into the trailer do we see the face of Anakin. He is partly covered with dark hood, looking positively evil.

This is followed by the shot of erupting volcanoes, then some sort of volcanic field with crab-like creatures and then darkness, all accompanied by Vader breathing. Then the following is heard:

Sidious: "Lord Vader..."

Vader: "Yes?"

Sidious: "Rise."

Then we see Anakin in full Vader gear rising on some sort of operating table to which he is chained. The rising is slow and is intercut with shot of various Star Wars main characters. When the table has fully risen so that Vader is basically standing upright, the meatiest part of trailer begins, with many, many shots from Episode III. Most of them are very, very short - this will be something for freeze-frame fanatics to analyze.

The ones that stuck in my memory:

Dozens of Wookiees on some sort of floating platform.

Padme with signature Leia hairdo.

The Tri-Fighter, aka the precursor to the TIE fighter with three curving wings and guns mounted between each wing. They shoot red lasers.

The ARC Clonefigthter, aka the precursor to X-Wing, with three wings on each side.

A gigantic starship being sprayed by streams of something that looks like dense acid.

The trailer ends with the title "THE SAGA IS COMPLETE - MAY 2005" and ... (end spoilers) is about 100 seconds long.

Wow. I'm as cynical as the next guy, but that is one f'ing sweet poster.

s

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And when he had failed to find these boons in things whose laws are known and measurable, they told him he lacked imagination, and was immature because he preferred dream-illusions to the illusions of our physical creation

The Tri-Fighter, aka the precursor to the TIE fighter with three curving wings and guns mounted between each wing. They shoot red lasers.

The ARC Clonefigthter, aka the precursor to X-Wing, with three wings on each side.

A gigantic starship being sprayed by streams of something that looks like dense acid.

Good to hear... one of the biggest issues I've had with the prequel trilogy, is that for a series called "Star Wars", there have been precious few space battles in Eps 1 & 2. The bit with Obi Wan and Jango Fett in the asteroid field was pretty cool, but other than that, bupkus.

I think your right Hetz. It's funny, but I think it's going to be the darker tones that make it a palatable movie... I'm starting to think Lucas should never do movies with "happy" themes.

s

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And when he had failed to find these boons in things whose laws are known and measurable, they told him he lacked imagination, and was immature because he preferred dream-illusions to the illusions of our physical creation

The SW DVD has a great feature called Vader Under the Mask with some shots of EpIII.

They also had the making of the lightsaber. It was interesting to hear Lucas explain why swordfighting gets progressively better. The first obi-wan/Vader fight was between an old man, who gave up his jedi ways and vader, who was part machine. The second fight with Luke was better b/c Luke started to learn some skills, by the final fight b/t luke and vader, Luke was a full jedi, able to use all his skills.

The prequel swordfights were the apparently the best because these were Jedi at their prime with 1000s of years of techniques behind them which were all lost during the clone wars. Interesting way to explain how their budget got better with each movie. :lol:

Interesting way to explain how their budget got better with each movie.

I'll agree that it makes sense to the setting, but I'll have to call bull$hit if he claims he planned it that way from the beginning.

s

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And when he had failed to find these boons in things whose laws are known and measurable, they told him he lacked imagination, and was immature because he preferred dream-illusions to the illusions of our physical creation

Anakin's reply to Palpatine is Yes, Master? and not just "Yes" and previsouly reported. Sweet. It is said somehow questioningly, as if he is not exactly sure what is happening.

Palpatine's "Riiiiiiiiise" is so devilish and long, they've clearly spent some time on making this section of the film perfect. Still finding it hard to believe they are going to show this section so early. Wow.

We've been told that the voice of Vader is ... close ... but definitely sounds different from the original Darth Vader. There should be no doubt that Lucas could make him sound perfectly like the classic Vader if he wanted, so this must be intentional. After all, it's logical that teenage Anakin under the Vader mask sounds slightly different than old Anakin in Episode IV under the same mask. We think it is either an early cut without finished effects (voice and visual) or Hayden Christensen's voice modulated through some advanced filters to sound very, very much like Jones. If you played this to casual moviegoer, he or she may not even notice any difference from Vader's classic voice.

And to clarify an earlier point or two, the lines of dialogue we posted are spoken over completely black screen right after the volcanic field shot. And the Tri-fighter we mentioned is actually the new Jedi starfighter.

There are no mechanical characters in the trailer except R2D2 and C3PO, not even for a split second. There is someone with sharp teeth and humanoid head, slightly resembling the alien from Enemy Mine. Someone should post a picture here for comparison, though it might just be Tion Meddon. So unless its the off chance that is Grievous unmasked, the Droid General does not figure into this first trailer.

I can't help but be excited for Episode III, but it's a more cautious optimism this time around. I remember being stoked when the trailers were released for Episodes 1 and 2 because they were so damn cool, then being dissapointed by the movies. I'm crossing all my fingers in the hope that Lucas can pull off a satisfying ending.

And when he had failed to find these boons in things whose laws are known and measurable, they told him he lacked imagination, and was immature because he preferred dream-illusions to the illusions of our physical creation

And when he had failed to find these boons in things whose laws are known and measurable, they told him he lacked imagination, and was immature because he preferred dream-illusions to the illusions of our physical creation